Time after time sensational statements appear in the media that someone found the key to deciphering all Nostradamus prophecies. But they are not confirmed. I will not claim that I have found the key and can decipher all the prophecies. In some quatrains years are indicated almost explicitly. For example, in the quatrain 917 it is enough to put 1 before the number and it will be 1917. The same is in number 8.12. In the quatrain 8.19, it is enough to put 1 at the end and we will get year 1918 in the reverse order. Therefore, there is no universal key. No one can decipher all prophecies, as they are spread until the end of the world. Even if we assume that someone can decipher the future correctly this person will not be able to prove it until the future becomes present or past. Only then historical facts will appear confirming the correctness of interpretation.
In quatrain numbers the prophet ciphered the years of the predicted events. He gave a hint to decipher in the quatrain 1.2: "The rod in the hands placed in the middle of branches." The branches, probably, is the quatrains number. Most of them consist of 3 digits. Two digits have only the first nine quatrains in each century. The quatrains numbers have 4 digits only in the tenth century. The rod is most likely the digit 1. It should be placed in a number (tripod) to get 4 digits of the year. The digit 1 can be place in any position of the number or added or subtracted. 00 to hundreds or 000 to thousands can be add to the century number. In the quatrain 1.6 by adding 00 and 1, we get the year of the predicted event – 1601.
Having tried various operations with the numbers of quatrains I came to the conclusion that the Prophet used various methods for encryption the year.
1. The method of permutation of digits. For example, in the quatrain 3.59 the digits should be read in the reverse order as 953, adding 1 at ahead we will get as result the year of Stalin's death. In prophecy 3.97 it is enough to put 3 at the end, and add 1 to the start and there will be 1973 – the year of Syrian Constitution adoption. This simplest method was used in quatrains: 4.39, 5.29, 5.56, 5.91, 5.94, 8.57, 9.45, 9.53, etc.
2. Digit flipping method: 6 into 9, 5 into 2 and vice versa. For example in quatrain 4.56 if we turn 6 to 9, read in reverse order and add 1 in front we will get 1945. This method was used in quatrains: 4.93, 6.9, 3.60 and many others.
3. The method of subtraction of one part of the number from another. For example, 9.86, 9 – is a number of century (hundred), corresponding to 900, consequently 900-86 = 814. If we add 1 in the front we will get 1814 – the year of Paris capture.
In many prophecies, several methods are used simultaneously. For example in quatrain 9.21: if we rotate 9 in 6, swap 2 and 1 we will get 600-12 = 588, add 1 in front we will get 1588 – the year of d'Guise murder.
In any case, the digit 1 is always used as the basis for encryption. Apparently, different methods of encryption were used intentionally so that no one could decipher everything at once. The technique that I developed does not provide 100% credibility and does not always lead to decryption of the number. However, it often gives the years which correspond to the meaning of prophecies. I think Nostradamus used exactly these methods for quatrains numbers encryption and, perhaps some others.
Nostradamus prophecies come true so accurately,
that it seems that all of us – just the performers
of roles in the great Divine drama called "History”.
Quatrain 1.1 Secret cabinet
Estant assis de nuict secret estude,
Seul repose fus la selle d'airain;
Flambe exigue sortant de solitude
Feit proferer qui n'est a croire en (vain.
I seated at night in secret cabinet,
Only resting on the copper saddle:
Tiny flame leaving the solitude
Make prosper what is not vain to believe.
I think that the first quatrain does not contain any prophecy but describes the environment in which the prophet used to live and work. Nostradamus lived in a small town Salon in France. It is known that he had a secret room on the second floor of his house where he wrote his prophecies at night (the quatrain number 1.1 probably means that the prophet talked one on one with God).
Quatrain 1.2 Divine shine
La verge en main mise au milieu des (branches,
De l'onde il moulle le limbe & le pied,
Vn peur & voix fremissent par les manches,
Splendeur diuine, le diuin pres s'assied
The rod in the hands placed in the middle of branches.
With the wave he moistens and the hem and the foot:
A fear and voice trembling of the handles: Divine splendour.
The divine is seated nearby.
Judging by the content, the second quatrain like the first, is not a prediction. The first line can be the key for decryption. The branches may mean the digits of quatrain, and "rod" – the digit 1, which must be placed between the digits of the numbers to get the answer. The last 2 lines, perhaps, say that the prophecy was given to him from Heaven. If to believe in this Nostradamus revelation it means he heard "the voice" and saw "divinity", and then the trembling of the handles is understood.
Quatrain 2.36 The letters seized
Du grand Prophete les lettres seront prinses
Entre les mains du tyran deuiendront,
Frauder son Roy seront les entreprinses,
Mais ses rapines bien tost le troubleront.
The letters of the great Prophet will be seized,
They will come to fall into the hands of the tyrant:
His enterprise will be to deceive his King,
But his thefts will soon confuse him.
In 1781 Pope Pius VI betrayed anathema all the works of the great astrologer and forbade their distribution. The revolution broke out in France after 10 years. Robespierre stood up for the prophet. He found a prediction about the renewal of the century – in 1792 a new chronology was introduced.
Quatrain 1.42 The desecration of grave
Les dix Kalendes d'Auril de fait Gotique
Ressuscité encor par gens malins,
Le feu estaint, assemleee diabolique,
Cerchant les os du d'Amant & Pselin.
The tenth day of the April Calendar, calculated in Gothic fashion
is revived again by wicked people.
The fire is put out and the diabolic gathering
seek the bones of the demon of Psellus.
A decade later in 1791 the revolutionary Jacobites destroyed and desecrated the tomb of Nostradamus, as he predicted in this quatrain. Diabolic gathering – first they hung up his skeleton, then scattered his bones and even drunk from the prophet’s skull. The fire is put out – can be interpreted as arson the Franciscan church by Jacobites. Soon the scourge reached the violators. Nostradamus remains were reburied in the church of St. Lawrence.
Decoding of the number 1.42. If 1 to consider as 100, then 100-24=76. By flipping 6 into 9 and putting 1 at the end we get 791.